Love The Tree, Hate The Fruit?

The day that we all get to play a new Nintendo console is getting close and what used to be a momentous gaming event for me is currently leaving me slightly cold. The above shamelessly paraphrased title from the 1UP Boards sums up how I feel, I think.

I’m reticent to speak out on my concerns about the Wii because, if I’m honest, I thought the DS was a crap idea. Now, having owned two of them and a decent library of original and entertaining software for it, I’ve eaten my words but I’m still not convinced that Nintendo will be able to replicate it on a home console. I want to play games for more than quick bursts, which is a format more suited to a handheld like the DS.

Looking at incomplete lists of launch titles the one Wii game that screams “MUST PLAY!” to me is a GameCube game with annoying-looking controls and, apart from a few obvious fits like Wario Ware and games designed to suit like Mario Galaxy (neither are launch titles), I’m extremely concerned that that it’s going to get games for other consoles shoehorned onto the new controls like Call of Duty 3 or Madden. I’d probably change my tune if Eidos made a Wii Hitman game with the nunchuck as a virtual garrotte but until I see that I’m sticking to my guns.

Of course the DS was much the same for the first year and now has some fabulous software, but what I want to play on a handheld is very different to what I want on a home console and I don’t see the experience transferring effectively. While it may be worth it for the Virtual Console alone, I applaud Nintendo for trying something different, WiiConnect24 is a great idea, and the Wii is unique as the only aesthetically pleasing console of this generation, with so much else to play this year I’m increasingly tempted to hold off until 2007 when the likes of Wario Ware will be out.

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3 thoughts on “Love The Tree, Hate The Fruit?”

no i agree with what you have said, i am going to buy a wii but only for zelda at this present time which makes me think is it worth it!? who knows what the controls will be like and at the end of the day it is a bloody gamecube title! but i am hopeing that metroid is going to be great for the system but its not even a launch day game! so i suppose i am getting one because its a new console and its relatively cheap with a game that i hope will live up to the controls! not the best reason really is it!

I agree with whats been said, I don’t have a crisis of conscience about the Wii, I’m more than ready to give the ‘tree’ a miss until I’m sure theres more to Nintendo’s offering than a novel control method. At the back of my mind I’m a little sceptical about Nintendo and their treatment of Europe this console generation.

To date I’ve yet to read an article extolling the Wii’s virtues, in which its evident that the author was 1) impartial 2) spent some time with the console 3) identified a launch-‘Window’ title he couldn’t wait to play (the new Zelda doesn’t count as it’ll be availble on the GC shortly and there have been mixed feelings about whether the Wii-control system is a ‘good thing’).

Given that theres unlikely to be a shortage of these things, I’m willing to sit back and see what people have to say about it first hand.

As an added bonus, waiting makes the Christmas shopping a hell of a lot simpler and easier on the wallet – the contents of which can be lavished on titles for consoles I already own.